Autographic register



1951 F. E. LANEGAN AUTOGRAPHIC REGISTER 2 Sl-lEETSSI-IEET 1 Filed Aug.22, 1946 Nov. 20, 1951 LANEGAN 2,575,421

AUTOGRAPHIC REGISTER I l q 3 i IL :Lh T's:

I Q H n INYe/VTOR Patented Nov. 20, 1951 AUTOGRAPHICREGISTER FrederickEdward Lanegan London, :England,

assignorlto H. tSmith...& Son Limited, London, England, :a Britishcompany Application Augustl22, 1946; Serial"No.i692;303 In GreatBritainDecember 28 1944 11 Claim.

.1 This invention relates to -so-calledautograph1c registers of the typecomprising I a containerproviding a compartment for-asupply ofcontinuous ystationeryin the form of aizig-zag pack, a writing tabletover which the stationerymay be drawn (with any convenientarrangement-of interleaved transfer'material) and beyond which it may beejected from the register. In-registers of this type means are providedfor-traversing the stationery past the writing tablet usually "throughthe medium of an external handle-so arranged-that on eachrotation orpartial'rotation-the stationery is traversed one form length through themachine.

"In an autographic'registerofthe-type described for' use in particularin businesses such as laundries and dry-cleaning establishments-4thas-a1- readybeen proposed to enclose within-thecontainer a reel of'numberedidentificationtape and to drive'this tape through the'interiorof the container in alignmentwiththe stationery so thatat each deliverya length ot. tape corresponding to or appropriate to the form length ofthe stationery is ejected.

This invention is likewise concerned with the provision of means fordelivering a tape incompany with the stationeryby means of the mechanismemployed 'for driving the stationery strips.

The invention provides an:autographicregister of the type describedwhich is characterised by the provision of means for supporting a supplyof identification tape and a pin-wheel driven .in synchronism withthestationery traversing means and arranged to make feedingengagementwith perforations in the tape to issue the tape from theregister in synchronism with the ejection of the stationery from theregister.

In the preferred form of the register thestationery traversing meansinclude one or more pin-wheels carried on a driving spindle and arrangedto make feeding engagement with perforations in the stationery and thetape-feeding pin-wheel is also carried on the spindle for rotationtherewith. If desired, the tape-feeding pinwheel may be of differentdiameter from that of the stationery feeding wheel or wheels so that thelength of tape fed at each operation oi the external operating handle orthe equivalent is difierent from the length of stationery so fed.

Conveniently the register includes a guillotine, which may be operatedautomatically, for cutting off the tape issued.

One specific register according to the invention will now be describedby way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

Figure .1 is .an elevation showing the provision of the identificationtape-feeding .means :in a register of known type;

Figure 2 is a plan of part ofthe registershown in Figure 1,

Figure-3 illustrates alength of the tape as-fed at each operation of theregistensand Figure 4 is anenlargeddetailview of-the mech anism foroperating the clamping bar and'the guillotine. I f

The register forming thesubject of this ex-' ample is of the typeinwhich a zigzag pack otcon tinuous stationerylfll is received in acompartmerit of the register and is traversed step by-step over awriting plate iii! by means of pin-wheel rotatable on a shaftzl3."Thestationery is finally ejected from the register and tornlofiintoform lengths. T

.Irrthis example of the invention the following arrangement is adopted.Theidentiiication tape 1 :is: wound on abobbiniZ freely mounted for r0-tation on a spindle 3. 'Ihe'spindle 3 is carried in a sleeve4 fixed toan-arm 5 pivoted-atB-to the side' 'l of a frame located insidetheregister casing-8. Friction discs Gare carried on thespind-ie 3 andare pressed-against:the sidesof thetape by .aspringilll. The sleeved isreceived'withinaslot,

not-shown, in theside-l. When'it is desired to replenish-thetape the topof the register is opened and the spindle carrying the bobbin ismaise'dby pivotal movement-of the arm 5 about the pivot =6. The 'C-washer i Iis removed from the end of the spindle 3 which-allows the spindle to beremoved and releases the bobbin 2' whichmay-thenbereplace'dby'a newbobbin andthe parts re-assein bled.

The tape is-taken from thebobbin '2 over -the top ofa pin-wheellrmountedon a-spindle 13 for rotation therewith. The spindle l3 alsocarregister to which this example is applied the spin.-

dle I3 makes one revolution for each operation of the handle. The lengthof tape issued at each operation is illustrated in Figure 3 which showsthe tape divided into three sections arranged for separation after issuefor attachment to garments or other articles so as to identify them withthe information contained on the form or other stationery issuedsimultaneously with the tape.

After the tape has passed over the pin-wheel I2 it is led between theblades l5 and I6 of a guillotine arranged to cut off each length of tapeas it issues. The movable blade of the guillotine is operatedautomatically in the following way. The register is provided, in knownmanner, with a clamping bar H for clamping the stationery during thewriting operation the bar being carried by arms 33 pivotally supportedat 34 and the bar being automatically raised to release the stationeryduring the operation of traversing the stationery and lowered at the endof the traversing operation to clamp the stationery against the top ofthe register. The movements of this clampingbar are employed, inaccordance with the invention, to operate the guillotine. For thispurpose, the spindle 18 carrying the blade 15 is provided with an arm [9of which the free end extends under a projection on the clamping bar.The arm [9 is urged upwardly by a spring 28 acting through a plunger 2|in contact with the arm. When the clamping bar I! is raised to releasethe stationery, the arm 19 is allowed to rise under the influence of thespring 20 and the blade 15 is thereby lifted clear of the stationaryblade 66 which allows the tape to be fed between the two blades. At theend of the operation of feeding the stationery and the tape the clampingbar I! is lowered, by spring action, and presses down the arm 19 whichin turn lowers the blade l5 and cuts off the length of tape issued.

In the register described in the above example the pin-wheel spindle 13makes one revolution for each operation of the handle and the liftingand falling movement of the clamping bar is conveniently arranged bymeans of a follower 30 co-operating with a flange 3| provided on one ofthe stationary feeding pin-wheels and having a depression 32 into whichthe follower drops when the clamping bar is tobe lowered. In cases inwhich the pin-wheel spindle makes more than one revolution at eachoperation of the handle, the clamping bar may be operated by means of acam formed on the handle shaft instead of on the pin-wheel spindle.Alternatively, the clamping bar may be operated from the stop pawl inthe arrangement described in British Patent Application No. 35111/45dated December 28, 1945.

In an autographic register of the type described it is customary, inmany cases, to provide a locked compartment in which one or more of thecopy records, after inscription, is delivered as a continuous strip andso retained in the register. A similar arrangement may be adopted in anapparatus embodying the present invention, but the invention is notrestricted to the provision of such an arrangement.

I claim:

An autographic register comprising as an operative combination, acontainer for a supply of continuous stationery, a writing platen over aportion of the container, two pin-wheel feeding devices for engagementin marginal perforations in the stationery, and rotatable step-by-stepbetween writing operations on the stationery to traverse the stationeryover the platen and to feed the stationery to a station at which it isejected from the register, means for supporting in relation to thecontainer a supply of identification tape, a tape-feeding pin-wheelarranged to make feeding engagement with perforations in the tape and onrotation to draw the tape from the supply and to feed it to an ejectionstation, mean for driving the tape-feeding and the stationery-feedingpin-wheels step-by-step in synchronism to issue tape from the registerand at the same time to eject stationery from the register, means forconstraining the stationery and the tape to follow separated paths inthe register, a clamping bar for clamping the stationery against the topof the container during writin operations, mean operable by rotation ofthe stationery-feeding pin-wheels for automatically lifting the bar torelease the stationery during the operation of traversing the stationeryand then to lower the bar, a guillotine for cutting ofi theidentification tape ejected from the register, and a lever pivotallysupported in relation to the container and platen carrying at the end ofone arm the guillotine and cooperating at the end of the other arm withthe clamping bar in manner such that as the bar is lowered to clamp thestationery the lever is rocked to lower the guillotine and thereby tocut off the ejected tape.

FREDERICK EDWARD LANEGAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,334,436 Metzner Oct. 18, 19211,760,847 Metzner May 27, 1930 1,791,858 Brand Feb. 10, 1931 1,812,605Pfeifier June 30, 1931 2,457,807 Davidson Jan. 4, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTSNumber Country Date 514,173 Great Britain Nov. 1, 1939

